IS STREAMING TV PROGRAMS AND MOVIES LEGAL?

There are certainly some illegal streaming companies out there. As we mention later in this article, for years there were few penalties, but 2018 brought a change with legal streaming service companies taking illegal counterparts to court.

It isn't hard to figure out the most obvious illegal sites since they often advertise hundreds of channels of programming including premium channels like HBO, Showtime, NFL Networks and more, for something like US $25 per month.

Free streaming video services are constantly changing. The information on this site is current as of the UPDATE date noted on the front page of this website. I do provide a link to each of the noted services I present here so you can view the latest information on channels and features offered.

All the sites we offer declare they own the rights to provide the programs and movies they offer to devices in the United States. All the sites either are in the TV program or movie business, backed by entertainment corporations, or are nationally known. While you might not know a site named FUBO or VUDU, they are well known companies.

You can view this information through internet business resource sites such as:

https://www.datacenter.org/research/corp_res.htm

https://legalbeagle.com/13324895-how-to-find-all-subsidiaries-of-a-corporation.html

https://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml (Publicly traded companies)

There are now over one hundred streaming services. Many have a monthly fee from five US dollars to one hundred US dollars. There are some free streaming sites that earn revenue showing commercials within their programs, just like American TV stations. A site must have a revenue source to pay the bills.

When you see an offer on-line for 500 and more channels including HBO, Showtime, All NFL football games, and more programs and movies for twenty-five dollars a month, it could be a winning guess that site isn't legal.

For years there has been little penalty assessed. This changed in 2018. Satellite and broadcast companies joined to take the illegal streaming services "off the air". Not only are the illegal streaming services being hit with major monetary penalties, now the courts have given the satellite and broadcast companies access to the hardware and software owned by the illegal streamers. This includes the list of subscribers.

In 2019, satellite and broadcast companies began sending letters to some of the TV subscribers asking for up to $3,700 US. If the subscriber doesn't pay or come to a settlement, the companies take the home viewer to court. And the satellite and broadcast companies are winning. You can search for this information on the internet and view the latest court cases.

If you prefer not to stream from the internet perhaps you might consider a TV antenna and add a DVD player showing programs you have gotten free from your local library.  Or save the driving time, and stream programs and movies directly from your local library using your library's streaming service. Netflix also continues to offer their DVD movie-by-mail service for a reasonable cost.

As we explain in the TV section of taylortg.com, a simple roof top, or at least an attic TV antenna can today bring considerably more stations than the days of analog TV. We show you how to find the channels that are available in your neighborhood in the TV Overview section. See you there.

TaylorTG